AIM Framework glossary
Speed-Selectivity Trade-Off
Canonical definition
The Speed-Selectivity Trade-Off is the architectural constraint that the preconscious speed encompassed by the Transmission Window required for the coordination that enables cumulative culture is faster than the conscious evaluation (300-500ms) required to filter observed goals before adoption, making pre-adoption filtering impossible and post-adoption correction the only available intervention.
Explanation
A system that could evaluate "does this Object serve my A-I needs?" before adopting the modelled goal would be selective, enjoying cultural learning without indiscriminate desire-absorption. But the mirror-neuron/predictive-coding system that models another agent's goals and projects the result to valuation circuits operates within the Transmission Window, while conscious evaluation requires 300 to 500ms at minimum. The valuation modulation is complete before evaluation could begin. This is not a contingent limitation but a structural consequence of the speed requirement: collective hunting coordination, predator avoidance, language acquisition, and real-time social learning all demand goal-copying faster than deliberation permits. Speed is the feature; indiscriminate adoption is the cost. The Trade-Off governs adoption, not action: the adoption-action distinction ensures that I-Override remains available as a post-adoption correction mechanism, even though the starting position is always non-neutral. The Trade-Off provides the micro-level derivation of the Mimetic Trade-Off Principle, establishing the Trade-Off as a logical consequence of timing architecture rather than an empirical generalisation about co-occurrence.
Epistemic status
Framework-Specific Construct.